Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington-area home, a judge ordered a halt to taxpayer-funded ads promoting President Trump, and Ukraine said it would stop hitting Russian refineries only if Moscow stops hitting its power grid. Overnight, two Americans won the Nobel prize in economics, rescuers kept working in Nepal’s flood-hit Gorkha district, Buffalo beat Los Angeles in overtime, and tributes came in for Breaking Bad actor RJ Mitte.
In This Roundup
- Federal Agents Search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Home as She Calls It Political Intimidation
- Judge Orders Halt to Taxpayer-Funded Ads Promoting Trump
- Zelensky Says Ukraine Will Stop Refinery Strikes Only if Russia Stops Hitting Its Energy Grid
- Americans Hall and Woodford Win Nobel Prize in Economics
- Judge Says She Is ‘Furious’ Over Tree Removal at DC’s East Potomac Golf Course
- Rescue Work Continues in Nepal’s Gorkha District After Budhi Gandaki Flash Flood
- Bills Edge Rams 37-34 in Wild Monday Night Overtime Finish
- ‘Breaking Bad’ Actor RJ Mitte Dies at 34
1 Federal Agents Search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Home as She Calls It Political Intimidation
Federal agents searched the Washington-area home of Rep. Ilhan Omar early Monday, in what the Justice Department described as a court-authorized search carried out as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. The department gave no public details about what investigators are looking at, and Omar has not been charged with a crime. Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who came to the United States as a child refugee from Somalia, has long denied accusations of immigration fraud raised by senior administration officials.
Omar said she was unharmed and described the search as an effort to target political opponents. House Democratic leaders called it deeply disturbing, pointing to its timing less than a month before the November 3 midterm elections. President Trump told reporters he had nothing to do with ordering the search and said the matter was up to the Justice Department, while also repeating his personal criticism of the congresswoman.
I will not be silenced.
Source: USA Today
2 Judge Orders Halt to Taxpayer-Funded Ads Promoting Trump
A federal judge on Sunday evening ordered the Trump administration to stop airing taxpayer-funded ads that promote the president and his agenda, granting a temporary restraining order in a case brought by the watchdog group Common Cause and others. The challengers argued the ads were paid for without congressional approval and crossed the line from public information into publicly funded promotion.
The government told the court the ad push was already set to end Sunday night and that there were no plans for more buys, but the judge said that did not make the case moot. Filings in the case put the amount already spent at about $19 million, drawn from an allocation the administration had described as funding public service announcements. Lawmakers from both parties had raised questions about the campaign after it began late last month.
Source: TMJ4 News
3 Zelensky Says Ukraine Will Stop Refinery Strikes Only if Russia Stops Hitting Its Energy Grid
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed back against President Trump’s call for Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries, saying Kyiv is ready to halt those attacks if Russia stops striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure. In a post on X on Sunday, Zelensky said a pause on energy strikes could begin right away, but argued that President Vladimir Putin does not want one.
The exchange comes as diesel prices stay painfully high, above $6.28 a gallon in the United States according to AAA, near last month’s record. Trump has blamed Ukraine’s refinery campaign in part for tight global diesel supplies and said on Friday he had reached a deal to import Russian diesel. Over the weekend, Ukrainian drones also hit a data center run by Russian tech company Yandex, the third such strike in four days, according to the Associated Press reporting cited by Barron’s.
Source: Barron’s
4 Americans Hall and Woodford Win Nobel Prize in Economics
American academics Robert Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University won the 2026 Nobel prize in economics on Monday for work that rebuilt how central banks and governments think about stabilizing an economy. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored them for providing microeconomic foundations for macroeconomic stabilization — in plain terms, for starting with the millions of choices households and businesses make, rather than with top-down totals alone.
The committee said that approach leaves policymakers better equipped for shocks such as an energy crisis or a sudden shift in household spending, problems that are front and center again as the Iran war drives an energy shock. The prize, formally the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is worth 12 million Swedish crowns, about $1.2 million, and was the last Nobel announced this year.
Source: Reuters
5 Judge Says She Is ‘Furious’ Over Tree Removal at DC’s East Potomac Golf Course
A federal judge in Washington told Justice Department lawyers on Monday that she was furious over the removal of about 500 trees at East Potomac Golf Links over the weekend, calling it inexcusable. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she had told the government back in May to give advance notice of any substantive construction work at the historic public course, and she said the failure to notify the preservation group suing over the project had cost the government its credibility in the case.
The hearing was the latest turn in the fight over President Trump’s planned overhaul of the century-old, federally owned course, which is managed by the National Park Service. Crews began cutting trees on Friday afternoon as part of work the Park Service has described as a cultural landscape rehabilitation. Preservation advocates are suing to halt the larger redevelopment, which the president has said he hopes will let the course host major tournaments.
Source: Reuters
6 Rescue Work Continues in Nepal’s Gorkha District After Budhi Gandaki Flash Flood
Nepal’s disaster authority has laid out the first full official account of Sunday’s flash flood in Gorkha district, in a situation report covering the search, rescue and relief effort along the Budhi Gandaki River. The report says a major landslide early on October 11 between Lokpa and Chumling, in Chum Nubri Rural Municipality, blocked the river and set off the flood that followed, carrying debris through the valley below.
Five people — two women and three men from the area — remain out of contact, according to the report, which is based on information from the district administration and emergency operation centers. The Nepal Army rescued 95 people, including nine foreign nationals, using four helicopters. More than 100 foreign trekkers were reported stranded on the popular Manaslu route on Monday after trails and bridges were washed away, and officials said those who want to leave still need to be brought out, while trekkers in safe locations can shelter in tea houses along the route.
Source: ReliefWeb
7 Bills Edge Rams 37-34 in Wild Monday Night Overtime Finish
Buffalo survived a chaotic Monday night in Los Angeles, beating the Rams 37-34 in overtime on a 45-yard field goal by Tyler Bass with 1:55 left in the extra period. The Bills had led 13-7 at halftime, then watched the game turn into a shootout, with the teams putting up 48 points in the second half and trading touchdowns on five straight possessions in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles tied it with five seconds left in regulation on a short Kyren Williams run.
Overtime was just as messy. Buffalo drove deep, lost a fumble, then got the ball back after Greg Rousseau blocked a Rams field-goal attempt that would have won it. Josh Allen finished with 210 passing yards and 121 rushing yards, and James Cook ran for 111 yards and two scores despite fumbling twice. For Los Angeles, Matthew Stafford threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns, and Puka Nacua caught 17 passes for 138 yards and a score in the loss.
Source: Democrat and Chronicle
8 ‘Breaking Bad’ Actor RJ Mitte Dies at 34
RJ Mitte, who played Walter White Jr. across all five seasons of Breaking Bad, died Monday in Brownsville, Texas, at age 34, according to his representatives and local authorities. Police told CNN they took an emergency call around midday on Monday and found Mitte already deceased when they arrived. No foul play is suspected at this time, and the case remains under investigation, with no cause of death announced.
Mitte lived with cerebral palsy, as did the character he played — the son, nicknamed Flynn, of Bryan Cranston’s Walter White — and he used the role to push for greater representation for people with disabilities, serving as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s and as president of The Mitte Foundation. His family, in a statement shared by his representatives, honored that advocacy work. Cranston paid tribute Monday night, recalling casting a 14-year-old Mitte and praising the determination he brought to a demanding shoot.
Source: CNN
Editor’s Note: This roundup was prepared with the assistance of AI tools. Virginia Times gathered the source material from multiple sources and thoroughly reviewed the information before publication.
